Tinkers Park 2017 #1

Posted on August 12, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

The Tinkers Park Model Railways Plus show did what it said on the can – a reasonably sized model railway show, plus full sized trains, traction engines and road vehicles.  Derek and I visited on the Saturday, so missed the bus rally on the Sunday, and it was a pleasant morning’s visit.

This post will look at the models – and the next one the full sized exhibits.  Whilst I was there I wasn’t totally convinced by the model railways, but having looked at my photos again, realised that I was being a little tough on the show – there were some very good layouts on display.

Lakeside is an attractive Southern Pacific/tourist line set in the Sierra Nevada of southern California.

The station building has a full interior, that can be removed floor by floor.  The fact that each section is removable makes it worth the effort – otherwise little could be seen.

‘O’ gauge was represented by Lower Shalford, a fictitious Southern Railway terminus near Guildford.  The semi detached backscene is certainly typical of the area!

And that perennial favourite, Happisburgh Goods, set in East Anglia and pronounced ‘Haze-burg’.  The full terminus layout was always worth a look, and it is good that this part of it lives on around the exhibition circuit.

Maxwell is ‘N’ gauge, full of little ‘cameo’ scenes, and was rapidly booked for the ESNG 2018 show!

Most of the remaining layouts were narrow gauge, in various scales, and they were a fine selection of models.  We start with Cuttinglye Wharf, O-16.5 narrow gauge, set in the 1930’s to the south of London.  In this larger scale, the well lit interiors of the buildings showed up well.

Also O-16.5 is the ‘Southeastern Tar Distillers’, a narrow gauge railway shoe-horned into some interesting industrial scenery.  The curves at the end of the layout are tight to say the least, and short wheelbase stock is the order of the day.

I had seen the Slindon Vale Railway (again O-16.5) before, and it’s a lovely model, full of scratch built buildings of local, West Sussex, prototypes.

Moving down in size to OO-9, the Glyn Valley Tramway is a compressed model of Glynceiriog station, that was the terminal for passenger trains.  I recall building a cardboard model in O-16.5 in my early teens that fitted onto a Hornby-Dublo wagon chassis.  Long departed, but I recall it was a reasonable model, with cotton beading based on a method described in the seminal Don Boreham book on narrow gauge modelling.

Finally, Sand Point is a little OO-9 cameo layout, modelling a quay for granite traffic somewhere in the south-west of England.  A simple, but attractive model.

Posted in Exhibitions, Inspiration, Out and about | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Latest dispatch from Switzerland

Posted on August 10, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

We had a bit of trouble with the Swiss internet (yes, things do go wrong in Switzerland), and Ron’s pigeon didn’t have the gas to get back to the UK, but here are a few more of Allan & Ron’s photos.  I’ll hopefully get a few more railway shots when Allan is home, but these views do brighten up the day….

Here’s another view of the new ESNG clubhouse (NOT).

Not to be confused with the model version….

And here’s the Cha(I)rman’s official chair, ready for the next ESNG AGM, available at any Swiss branch of Haykea…

A view of the green ‘shed’ that, unlike the red one, has wheels – but no pantograph.

Views from Grimsel Passhohe and from the bus, plus two photos from Oberwald…

And pictures taken at Vitznau and on DS Uri….

And on Sunday:

In an effort to find better weather headed South to Lugano via Gotthard Base Tunnel. Spent nearly an hour sitting in the sun by the lake. These pictures were all taken in Lugano – on station and in funicular down to town and by the lake.

Later….

Very misleading. Half an hour up the line it was pouring down and the same when we went back. Back on the north side of the Alps it had started to rain and was heavy when we got back to our hotel. Yet 2 hours later we were having dinner on the terrace in the sun

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DC or DCC?

Posted on August 8, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

In the latest edition of Model Railway Journal, Jerry Clifford’s editorial has some helpful thoughts on model railway electrics.  Edited highlights below….

The old and the new….

A good friend and very fine modeller recently said to me that, in his opinion, DCC was the ‘spawn of Satan.  He went on to argue that operators seemed to spend more time staring at a screen or handset that looked capable of powering the Starship Enterprise than they did driving a train…

…. Buried in this deliberately provocative statement, I think he may have a point.

I was sold on DCC while operating John Greenwood’s Wadebridge layout.  I pulled into the platform with my T9 and pair of Maunsell coaches bound for Padstow.  No sooner had I come to a halt when out of the yard popped a Beattie to deal with the tail traffic…  It was, and remains, this simple point – the idea that you drive the loco and not the track – that is the biggest selling point of DCC for me.

…. I would argue that there’s a lot to be said for combining the old and the new.  Iain Rice, in his recent book on Cameo Layouts advocates grouping point and signal controls according to how they were operated on the prototype.  A lever frame for those operated from a signal box, with a more dispersed, geographical, arrangement for hand-operated points.  If you throw DCC into the mix and use it exclusively for driving the trains, you are starting to get close to replicating some of the key roles on the traditional railway – signalman, driver and shunter…..

I would suggest that just because it’s possible to run an entire railway from a single handset or tablet, it doesn’t necessarily make it desirable.  It may well be time to chuck out the bathwater, but it’s probably worth hanging on to the baby!

Perhaps the message is ‘horses for courses’?  There are some layouts totally suited to DCC, whilst others are better off without??  I recall that American layouts often have their yards with no point controls except ‘finger operation.’  OK, the great hand appears from the sky makes an appearance, but only to go what the man walking the track would do whilst shunting the prototype.  It also occurs to me, that if you accept that point operation is localised, but electrically operated, it would be possible to use both the benefits of a simple DCC power bus, and localised point controls.  Food for thought?

Posted in Hints and tips, Inspiration, Operation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

ESNG meeting – 3 August 2017

Posted on August 6, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

I had lost track of our members’ holidays, and was pleasantly surprised by a positive sighting of Mr Atfield, who brought along his Royal Train for a test run.

The fiddle yard looked a little bare – at least it would have done without Paul’s Japanese container train – must have been about 20′ long.

I enjoyed running this pick-up goods with an ‘N’ class mogul and a few open wagons.

And Graham had a steam hauled heavyweight passenger train on display.

Allan is, of course, still in Switzerland, and more photos will no doubt follow!

This caught my eye in the Grauniad Guardian newspaper…

Trainy McTrainface: Swedish railway keeps Boaty’s legacy alive

Winner of public vote to name new engine on Stockholm-Gothenburg line echoes UK poll choice for polar research ship

It’s happened again….. Trainy McTrainface received 49% of the votes in a poll, jointly run by Swedish rail company MTR Express and Swedish newspaper Metro.

The other trains have already been named by the public…. Another is named Glenn, after a long-running joke that everyone in Gothenburg is called Glenn.

MTR Express said the McBoatface decision had led to disappointment worldwide and it hoped the name Trainy McTrainface would “be received with joy by many, not only in Sweden”.

Could make a good model!  And good to see that the Swedish sense of humour is of as low a quality as us here in the UK…

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Allan & Ron head for the hills

Posted on August 4, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

It’s August, so it’s holiday time for Allan and Ron.  Creatures of habit, like the Bartlett’s, they head for Switzerland.  As a friend mailed…

Got where? OK let me guess. Where do you two go every year around this time? Ah yes, Toblerone Land. Will you be travelling on a triangular train to visit the triangular factory where triangular people make triangular chocolate from triangular honey and triangular nuts?

Allan reports….

Finally got here after one and half hour delay at Gatport Airwick.  This is the view from our room.

We had two good thunderstorm over night and still raining from the second.

Looks like the weather was the same as our holiday!  But the weather obviously improved the following day….

SWISS NATIONAL DAY GREETINGS FROM LAUTERBRUNNEN.  Waterfall at Stechelberg, others taken on top of Schynige Platte

Is this the Swiss version of a ‘legal high’?

This is the sort of view I’d like if I went to Switzerland, but I bet it would rain all the time!

And the waterfall…

And finally a train (sort of).

What do you do with old locomotives?  The green one has running gear and motor.(behind the board).  The red one is just a body.  Would make a nice shed.

Posted in ESNG, Out and about, Prototype | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Shepton Mallet yet again

Posted on August 2, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

It’s the start of the school holidays, so for the 21st time Maxine and I went on our annual pilgrimage to the ‘New Wine’ church conference.  Once again, there were over 10,000 people camping on the Bath & West Showground near Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in the south-west of the UK.  And of course it rained.  And it was cold.  But we had an excellent week, aided by having a hire tent, so there was no putting up and taking up tents in the rain.

It was sunny on the day off, so I took the usual pictures of the miniature railway that is on the Showground, run by the East Somerset Society of Model & Experimental Engineers.  Most of the main line is dual gauge 5″ and 7¼” gauges (just a little larger than ‘N’ gauge).  Each year at New Wine, ESSMEE open up the railway for the day and offer rides for all and sundry.  Read more about this little railway at http://www.essmee.org.uk/ 

Most of the engines are the same as previous years, but there was a very smart ‘Warship’ on display….

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New York port railroad maps

Posted on July 31, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

For the map enthusiast, a few more hours of tracing rail lines…..

From the UMSL Digital Library, maps of the port of New York , prepared by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors.  These maps are a set from 1932 of the Port of New York.  Fascinating sets of lines that weave their way between buildings, and sometimes end up on a car float.

I picked a section at random, and came up with this map from Staten Island.  At the top a tiny railroad system serves three piers, with no car float or external link to the outside world.  And in the middle of the map is the Staten Island Rapid Transit Co depot.  Still running today, and using modified New York subway cars, the map shows a compact depot for the storage and maintenance of vehicles.

And here it is today…..  No piers, but the depot has survived.

Posted in Hints and tips, Inspiration, Layout design, Prototype | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Two odd links

Posted on July 29, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

Two odd links from the Daily Telegraph…..

Shocked commuters gawp as woman brings desktop computer on First Class Virgin train

A shocked commuter took a photograph of a woman who had turned her First Class seat on a train into an office by installing a large iMac.

“I work for a software company, and been traveling on the trains for about 15 years, I have never seen anything like it. The lady had a full wired keyboard and mouse.   I am still puzzled why someone would carry a desktop computer around, when a laptop would give her the same options, with more portability.”

And this is for real??  I believe so.  How can anyone be SO out there?

And more useful, I guess….

New London underground map redesigned for people with anxiety

A London Underground map has been published to help passengers with claustrophobia or anxiety conditions.  The new design highlights routes they can take to avoid long stretches of tunnels.  More than half of the Tube’s 270 stations are above ground, with only the Victoria and Waterloo & City lines wholly underground.

Nicky Lidbetter, chief executive of charity Anxiety UK, said: “For those with anxiety conditions such as panic attacks and claustrophobia, we know that travel by the Underground can be problematic and challenging.

I suppose it could be helpful.  But what next?  Sections of the Underground that is always overcrowded?  Sections of the Underground occupied by people with large suitcases?  Where does one stop?

Posted in Inspiration, Out and about, Prototype, Weird and wonderful | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Jon’s modules (and layouts) – A new(ish) layout

Posted on July 27, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

As I write this, I’m looking at a large black box parked in the lounge, and waiting to go into the loft.  What could it be?

Kuritu.  At our 2017 show in April, I noticed that Ian Milroy had a ‘For Sale’ sign on the end of the layout.  It’s one of my favourites, and although I don’t really model Japanese railways, I couldn’t resist asking how much.

Ian has been very patient, waiting for me to finish running around the world before exchanging the layout for some hard-earned cash.

The whole layout is in good condition, and ready to go, but I might freshen it up in places and add a little extra detail in due course.

Some of these trams may actually get a run, now!

And although I don’t seem to have time to exhibit layouts at regular intervals, if anyone would like Kuritu to visit their show, I’m open to offers.  6′ long and viewed from both long sides, it can fill in that awkward space in your exhibition!

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ESNG meeting – 19 July 2017

Posted on July 25, 2017 by snitchthebudgie

A bit of a holiday atmosphere tonight.  We were missing one of the Derek’s, off on holiday somewhere, and Allan, with yet another early milk round.  We were wondering whether to bother running trains, but persevered, and it was worthwhile as eight of us turned up in the end.

It was also a bit of a ‘testing’ evening.  Chris brought along his lovely Network Southeast HAP unit, for a first run.  And it ran impeccably.

As I still seem to be working too many hours, I’m also buying bargains as things come up.  Another O4 shunter was too cheap to ignore, and it will get a set of Wisbech and Outwell skirts like the yellow one bought previously.  I was worried that this would have to be returned, as it was very jerky when first running forward (but as smooth as anything backwards.)  However, after a couple of circuits it seemed to free up and was soon running as smoothly as most new Farish seem to.

And my other purchase, another Midland 4F.  If I can pluck up the courage to desecrate such a lovely model, it might just end up as a Southern Q.

All in all, though, a very pleasant evening, with time to play trains in a relaxed manner, and have a long chat with friends.

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